'True Blood's' new werewolf dishes on romance, vampire politics

There's a sexy new werewolf named Rikki in Bon Temps, but don’t hold your breath for a romance between her and the suddenly single Alcide on the new season of "True Blood."

“All I can say is that everybody knows Alcide (Joe Manganello) is holding a candle for Sookie (Anna Paquin),” Kelly Overton, who plays Rikki on the show this summer, told TODAY.com.

“And who is to say that he is even (Rikki’s) type? She definitely lives life a little more on the edge than he does. It is definitely going to take a unique sort of person/being to catch Rikki’s eye and actually keep her interest.”

Overton -- a former high-school track star and mother of a 1-year-old girl -- describes her character as “tough and resourceful.”

“Rikki is pretty much the polar opposite of a damsel in distress,” she told TODAY.com. “You don’t want to be on her bad side, that is for sure!”

“When we meet Rikki, she is not in the best of moods. Her pack master has gone missing,” Overton explained. “That is a pretty big deal in her world. She is pretty determined. She won’t let anyone or anything get in the way of finding out what happened to him."

Overton also noted that in the upcoming season, viewers will finally meet the Authority, the vampire council that rules over all bloodsuckers.

“We really kind of see the politics and the power struggle between the Authority’s agenda -- which is to drink Tru Blood and mainstream this society with humans. You know, coexist. We see that and the fundamentalist vampires, who are subscribing to beliefs that they are superior to humans. Humans are merely a food source,” she added.

“So this season is really different in that there is a lot of politically charged drama, which is something that always existed within the show, but until now they never really fully explored it and all the impact it will have on the characters. ... There is a lot of characters asking what side are they on.”

“True Blood” offers the biggest role yet for Overton, 34, whose career break came as an understudy to Alicia Silverstone in the Broadway revival of “The Graduate.” It was working on that production that she met her husband, actor Judson Pearce Morgan, who was the understudy to lead actor Jason Biggs.

The pair first hooked up on opening night in April 2002 despite warnings from many other theater actors. “In school (at New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts), the first thing they taught us was, 'Whatever you do, don’t get romantically involved with your scene partner. It will affect your work,' ” she said.

The couple married in 2004, and Overton said her understanding hubby doesn’t seem to mind the nude scenes and sexy situations she encountered while filming “True Blood.”

She doesn’t seem to mind taking it off for the camera either.

“(I am comfortable) because of the show and the place I am at in my life now,” Overton told us. “Being a mom kind of grounded me in a way. Your body takes on a whole new meeting. And when I am older I can look back and say, ‘Look at Grandma!’”